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Get paid $2,400 to ditch your gadgets for 24 hours to go on a 'digital detox'

By PINKY S. ICAMEN Published Mar 24, 2021 6:24 pm

This might be the long-overdue detox that you need, where you could earn some extra cash while you’re at it, too.

There’s no escaping technology, as one way or another, people’s lives today are hooked with some form of a device for work, school, entertainment, socializing and more.

Now, Reviews.org, a company that tests products and services that keeps you connected at home, wants to give someone $2,400 (about P117,000) to go 24 hours without technology with its “Digital Detox Challenge.”

According to the company, it is looking for someone who is into technology and is willing to challenge themselves—like those who are addicted to their phones or gadgets—who have the desire to ditch their devices but needs to get paid to do so.

This challenge goes beyond just ditching one's cellphone for a day, which for some is already a dreaded task, and getting the money.

The chosen challenger must be willing to disconnect from all personal technology (emergencies excluded) for 24 hours, which includes cellphone, television, gaming consoles/handheld gaming devices, computers/laptops, smartwatches or wearable tech, and smart home devices like smart speakers.

The contender will also get a safe where he or she can store one’s tech items for 24 hours.

Are you willing to go on a 24-hour digital detox? A $2,400 reward could encourage you, perhaps?

What the challenger will do during the 24 hours of the challenge is completely up to him or her but the company will provide a $200 (P9,700) Amazon gift card for the chosen individual to put together a “Techless Survival Kit” to help pass the time.

Here are some of the company’s recommendations to be included in the challenger’s techless survival kit:

-A typewriter to use instead of a laptop

-Board games to replace video games

-Stationery to replace text messages or e-mail

-An abacus to replace the calculator in one’s smartphone

-Books from the best-seller list to replace the time one spends mindlessly scrolling through social media.

-Paints and brushes to make a self-portrait instead of taking selfies.

After the challenge, the chosen individual will have to submit screen time reports to prove that one went without tech for 24 hours. Once one has successfully completed the task, he or she will receive an official title of “2021 Digital Detox Challenger” and the $2,400 cash prize.

Anyone who is 18 or older and is eligible to work in the United States is free to join by filling out an application form before March 26, which contains a 100-word essay for the applicant to explain why he or she is the perfect person for the challenge.

The company will then select one candidate from the entire pool of eligible entries. According to Reviews.org, the candidate will be selected based on the quality of his or her application as judged by the company’s employees.

Reviews.org is running a separate challenge in Australia, with almost the same mechanics but an applicant should be 18 years old or older and is eligible to work in Australia. The cash prize is AUD 2,400 (about P89,000) and the deadline of application is on March 27.